“If you want to be a successful street photographer I think you need to slow just a little bit, be a little more patient, be a little more humble, and slow it down a bit. I don’t believe in rushin’.” – Jamel Shabazz (Source)

Female Blood, 1995 @ Jamel Shabazz

Jamel Shabazz is best known for his street portraiture of New Yorkers in the eighties. Shabazz has consistently delivered images of life, active bodies, colour, fashion and individual confidence. His is a street life on show.

Shabazz was also a correctional officer for twenty years, and for a large portion of that time at Rikers Island. Female Blood (above) is an image from the criminal justice system. It is heavy and deserves discussion, but for that we must wait. Jamel has agreed to sit down for an interview with me in October. To that end he has put up a print for fundraising toward Prison Photography on the Road.